December the 12th, 2022 - It's been quite some time since we've seen receipts and bills and the figures printed on them be the topic of endless social media debate, but with inflation continuing to bite, some believe certain establishments are using this unpleasant economic situation to their advantage. One Zagreb receipt has taken Facebook by storm today.

There are still those who, despite struggling to make ends meet month to month, still have money set aside to enjoy dining and drinking out. With the prices of raw materials rising and the energy crisis still causing tremendous issues when it comes to paying the bills for many establishments, it's only natural that a few kuna extra will appear on bills and receipts issued for food and drink. 

The post-pandemic period, accompanied by the dire situation in Ukraine and the inflationary pressures our bank accounts and pockets are all under, has seen those in the catering and hospitality sector try to earn money they lost back during pandemic-induced lockdowns of 2020 and early 2021. How many are actually taking advantage here, though? Some believe that many are using the situation in an underhanded way.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, under the heading ''I think every comment on this is redundant'' a photo of a Zagreb receipt has been doing the rounds on social media. According to that receipt, a mere cup of tea in that particular central city cafe costs more than 30 kuna, and a juice comes to more than 25 kuna.

For three cups of tea and two such juices, the clients paid 143.16 kuna, or, if we bother to convert into the currency we're set to introduce officially as of January the 1st, 2023 - 19 euros. It somehow sounds even higher when expressed in the bloc's single currency.

Could the justification for such high prices be the fact that the cafe is located in the very centre of Zagreb? According to the vast majority of comments - no, it cannot. As a central Zagreb resident myself, I can also say that there is very little justification for such high prices for very basic items and there are numerous cafes and pubs located in the very heart of the city where not even alcoholic beverages will come to such prices.

Are some establishment owners purely seeing an opportunity in this current climate of economic downturn and tighter belts? It's very likely, and this Zagreb receipt is likely going to be just one of many published on social media over the coming months.

For more, check out our news section.

November the 28th, 2022 - The Croatian economy is slowing down, with a recession more than likely to come knocking at Croatia's door in 2023, at least according to some experts.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, forecasts that the Croatian economy will have its "handbrake" pulled as the end of the year approaches have begun to come true. After experiencing impressive growth of 7.8 percent in the first and 8.7 percent in the second quarter of this year, the annual domestic GDP growth rate in the third quarter stood at 5.2 percent. Although there have been strong quarterly dynamics, certainly among the better ones in Europe, the problem is sliding downwards. Seasonally adjusted data shows that compared to the previous quarter of 2022, growth slowed by 0.4%, suggesting that the Croatian economy entering a difficult and uncertain 2023.

The all important three months of summer show the positive contribution of all components, at least when it comes to the domestic component. As expected, personal consumption with +5.6 percent and investments with an increase of 8 percent lead the way, while the state's contribution was a slightly positive 1.3 percent. The negative contribution to growth came only from net exports, as imports with a 30.5 percent increase exceeded exports with a 30.5 percent increase, but this is nothing unusual when tourism demand is booming.

While the quarterly growth figures outline an excellent tourist season, some will note that real GDP expectations were even higher if the precision of inflation coverage is taken into account. In other words, if the real price rise is to be assumed to be higher than what government statistics manage to capture (given the changes in behaviour and consumption patterns that go hand in hand with a prolonged period of high inflation), the GDP growth rate could have been better.

This year, summertime optimism and tourist euros that place an alluring but perhaps not quite accurate shine on the Croatian economy's results, can't camouflage the echoes of the fall in industrial production, retail sales and construction at the quarterly level. This year, the Croatian economy will draw the line under that previously rather reassuring GDP growth of 5 to 6 percent.

At the same time, there is more and more irrefutable evidence that out-of-control inflation is dangerously eroding peoples' purchasing power, narrowing the room for maneuver for companies to amortise cost shocks and shut down orders, meaning that a real recession is increasingly likely to be knocking on Croatia's door in 2023 as well, even without the further escalation of the war in Ukraine and the spiralling energy crisis.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated news section.

November the 23rd, 2022 - The price of meat has shot up across Croatia, and this Croatian item is edging closer and closer to becoming somewhat of a luxury product. Here are the main reasons why.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the ongoing global crisis and bad domestic policy decisions led to a weakening of domestic production and less availability of meat products to Croatian customers. The result of this set of deeply unfavourable circumstances led to a significant increase in the price of meat, which could soon become a luxury Croatian item, reports DW.

The meat industry here in the Republic of Croatia is facing ever-increasing problems, and with it so are meat consumers, who are needing to fork out ever-higher prices to purchase meat. The cost of fattening cattle up in Croatia has doubled this year, meaning the cost of production in Croatia is at the very top of the European Union (EU). The situation is worse only in the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania.

At the same time, Croatian imports of pork have more than doubled since the time before Croatia joined the EU back in July 2013. With regard to the entire production chain, the sector was also affected by the closure of the Petrokemija fertiliser factory in Kutina, according to Deutsche Welle.

The cause of this situation is not only the global crisis...

"Not only is it imported, but it's also encouraged by part of the support system in agriculture, already years ago. This endangers the development, but also the very survival of domestic animal husbandry, especially when it comes to pig and cattle breeding,'' says agricultural analyst and former producer in animal husbandry and dairying, Miroslav Kovac. He warned of the poor state of domestic cultivation, along with the establishment of the internal market and the disposal of important agricultural land.

"There's no state, no system, no people, nobody that is ready to withstand the pressure of lost values ​​like what has happened here in Croatia. The domestic population of pigs and cattle has been destroyed, in the long term, obviously, by bad political decisions, without a clear goal in space and with people, most often guided by "fireman's" logic. Dependence is increasing, and the price is increasing along with it. The biggest misfortune of all is the decimation of breeders and the obliteration of their logic of development," Kovac added.

"When will we stop sawing the branch we're sitting on?"

According to Kovac's beliefs, the public's attention shifted from the need for quick solutions here in the Republic of Croatia to the problems faced by importers. In the long run, this isn't at all good for the individual, nor for the Croatian economy as a whole: "How long will it take for us to understand the logic of the functioning of organised countries in this particular segment and stop sawing the branch we're sitting on?'' he asked.

"If we continue doing what we were doing before, the prices will rise across the entire supply chain, and even faster here, and the difference in price aside from business profits will melt away. Here, however, the current practice of emergency and partial interventions costing millions at the expense of the state and EU budgets will not help us, as it has never been the case before. I emphasise the logic of the development and preservation of the domestic economy, and now it's also in the wider context of the EU, and by no means is any of this only of individual interest,'' warned Kovac.

"Croatian agricultural policies are to blame"

Kovac has previously criticised Croatian agricultural policy due to the apparent stagnation of the sector. At the same time, neighbouring EU members Slovenia and Hungary are taking a number of quality steps forward, which have raised their production to quite an enviable level. Of course, there's also a jump in prices to take into consideration, but domestic production is in much better condition, with fewer imports and costs borne by local customers.

"Having run out of raw materials from domestic sources, problems with prices will spill over to consumers, who are the ultimate payers, including the value added tax that is charged on top of everything and isn't negligible for a long time,'' explained the analyst.

The news from the Croatian agricultural sector is somewhat dramatic: this autumn, according to Eurostat, the price of chicken in Croatia rose by 35.5 percent compared to the same period last year, while the EU average stood at 26.7 percent. It must be expressed that this refers to the placement of meat in sorted categories, while the Croatian Government capped the price of a whole chicken to just 24.99 kuna, along with products in some other meat categories.

Is Croatia condemned to imports?

Overall, the price of meat has risen significantly, seeing it become closer than ever to a luxury Croatian items. As a result, demand decreases, which in turn leads to further price increases. We can't even influence some factors, for example, the import of artificial fertilisers that came from Russia. Urea from Russia was sold in Croatia at a price three times higher than it was last year, when the Croatian market still had domestic products of this type of its own. Condemned to imported goods, Croatian farmers reduced their consumption of fertilisers, and consequently their yields. Because of this, some have already given up meat production and switched to arable farming or left the sector of agriculture altogether.

What do the manufacturers think about everything?

How the situation looks from that angle was explained by one of the largest producers in all of the Republic of Croatia - the Pivac Group. Today, too, they primarily point out that, due to market disturbances, their input production costs are constantly increasing. 

"Our production has risen in price by more than 30 percent this year alone, and due to inflation and the energy crisis, the increase in input prices will be a challenge in the future as well," the president of the group, Ivica Pivac, revealed. He emphasised that, when it comes to basic raw materials, their strategic focus on their own livestock production proved correct. However, the increase in animal feed prices by more than 80 percent influenced a significant increase in costs in this segment of production as well.

Uncertain market opportunities

"Although all of our input costs have increased, we constantly strive to minimise the impact of market disruptions on our end customers. However, unfortunately it wasn't possible to avoid price corrections. Otherwise, we'd be calling the sustainability of our production and supply into question," said Pivac.

Compared to last year's prices in Pivac stores, the current price of certain cuts of pork has increased by 18 percent, and when it comes to their most popular product, prosciutto, its price has increased by 20 percent. "Uncertain market conditions make it difficult to project price movements, however, we're going to continue to do everything we can so that the increase in input costs affects our customers as little as possible,'' assured Ivica Pivac, emphasising that for his company "when planning business, the focus remains on investments in self-sufficiency, production capacities and human resources,'' but it is still not known whether this will be enough to amortise the crisis stress for consumers and stop meat becoming a luxury Croatian item which is simply not affordable to some.

For more on inflation and increases in the cost of living in Croatia, keep up with our news section.

November the 20th, 2022 - Is it time the Croatian National Bank (CNB) reacted to the ongoing inflationary pressures we're all continuing to face? What could happen as costs spiral over the coming months?

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, October 2022's inflation of 13.2 percent at the annual level exceeded expectations and broke records yet again. Economists continue to struggle with predictions, people are increasingly angry because they can afford less and less, and the window for companies to elegantly pass on the impact of costs to customers is constantly narrowing.

That said, long-term inflation, which has remained rather stubbornly in double digits for the past six months, has begun to erode demand and slow down the flywheel. Cumulatively, inflation increased by 10.2% in a mere 10 months, and after a slight summer break, it has been increasing on a monthly basis for two months now. In October, prices increased (on average) by 1.3% compared to September.

Clothing and footwear took the lead by 6.9%, followed by the category that includes housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels by 2.8%, while food and non-alcoholic beverages rose in price by 1 percent. October is the first month this year in which one category stuck out like a sore thumb with a drop in prices – the segment of recreation and culture (-0.8%).

Although the reduction in prices at least in one area may seem like a bit of good news at first glance, it is a concrete indication that the standard has been undermined to the extent that non-essential consumption has begun being firmly squeezed out.

"Despite the Croatian Government's measures to cap prices in certain product categories, inflation is evidently spilling over to other product groups and is beginning to exert pressure on the demand side as well. This is partly a consequence of the previous increase in costs (which is especially visible in the continued strong growth of producer prices), so with still solid demand, consumer prices in other categories are also rising," RBA analysts point out.

The governor of the Croatian National Bank, Boris Vujcic, recently said that the latest data shows that the spread of inflation started to decrease for the first time in October. He said that this is good news and that it may indicate that we're "closer to the peak of inflation".

The engine of annual inflation (so far) has been the acceleration of prices in categories that are driven by cost shocks, although other categories are also suffering. Looking from the perspective of the month of October alone, food has risen in price by almost a fifth in a year, restaurants and hotels need people to allocate 17.8% more, while the costs of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels are 16.1 percent higher. The category of furniture, home equipment and regular maintenance has seen an average price increase of 15.8 percent. Transportation is also 11.5 percent more expensive today.

"It is slowly becoming more and more clear that the European Central Bank is lagging behind the curve of expectations. Here in Croatian conditions, we also have the element of introducing the euro, which will release enormous liquidity with inflationary potential. Therefore, it would be good for the Croatian National Bank to resort to the macroprudential measures it has as an instrument at its disposal, such as limiting the dynamics of lending, setting stricter requirements for collaterals, and the like," explained Zeljko Lovrincevic from the Institute of Economics.

Most recently when it comes to inflation, Lovrincevic sees two phenomena. "It's important to read that inflation has accelerated significantly since we met the nominal criteria for the introduction of the euro, and it keeps on surprising us. In other words, today we wouldn't manage to meet the inflation condition even with exceptions (countries that are excluded from the calculation for certain reasons) for its introduction,'' he stated.

"The figures show that what we're seeing is very widespread inflation, spanning all categories. If initially it came from energy sources, now inflation is radically spreading to all other groups, with food and non-alcoholic beverages taking the lead. In short, today inflation is fed by demand, which enters the zone of responsibility of central banks,'' explained Lovrincevic.

The months-long debate about inflation raises the question of where it comes from and, consequently, who is responsible for it all. Central banks, including the Croatian National Bank are responsible for ensuring things like price stability, but the economic profession has emphasised the limited capacity of monetary policy when inflationary pressures come from the cost side, in this case the explosion of energy prices across Europe.

People and companies are most interested in what will happen with inflation in the coming months. Roughly, a third of inflation is made up of administratively determined energy and utility prices, that part will directly depend on the government's decisions. The freezing of certain products, which "polished" the inflation statistics, resulted in shortages, but also compensations in the prices of other products.

"The real standard indicates that the burden of rising prices has been transferred to labour. The state will protect itself through the growth of the tax base, and employers through the growth of production and trade margins," the analyst points out.

The latest polls reflect exactly these trends; consumer optimism lags significantly behind that of the corporate sector, indicating the transfer of costs to the end customer. For this reason, this year in the triangle 'labour-capital-state', which depicts the contribution of individual components to GDP, Croatia will have the largest deviation in the share of labour of 2.5 percentage points (44.5 percent instead of the previous 47 percent), whereby the difference to be divided by the state and employers, concluded Lovrincevic.

Over more recent months, RBA expects a continuation of double-digit inflation with a slight tendency to decrease, 10.6% at the level of the whole of 2022, i.e. above 6% in the next year. They warn of the likely continuation of increased energy prices due to the war in Ukraine, but also of the necessary delimitation of administrative prices, which would bring a new inflationary blow with it.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

November the 14th, 2022 - Every fifth Croatian resident is living on the very edge of poverty as inflation continues to spiral and prices stay firmly on their upward trajectory. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, The World Day of the Poor was marked just yesterday, having initially been established by Pope Francis six years ago with the message - "We do not love with words, but with deeds". 

Here in this country, every fifth Croatian resident is at risk of falling below the poverty line, and the situation is further aggravated by growing inflation, which is why more and more people need help. On this occasion, Caritas organised a lunch and assistance for those most in need. The economic crisis and rising inflation has pushed many to the brink of poverty, and it's more than likely going to get worse before it gets better, writes HRT.

"We are also noticing an increase in the number of younger families in which one member of the household works, but they do not have enough funds to cover all their financial needs and obligations throughout the month," emphasised Jelena Loncar, the director of Caritas of the Zagreb Archdiocese.

Caritas employees and volunteers are ready to help those who need it with full hands and open hearts. Those who take care of the poor every day prepared a hot meal in Rijeka as well. The "Ruže sv. Franje" homeless shelter shockingly has almost has no free beds, and knocks on the door of the social self-service centre are becoming more and more frequent.

"We have very good support from our fellow citizens, they respond to all our actions. We manage to fill our shelves and that's actually all the joy of sharing and giving," emphasised Nela Pujic, a volunteer of the social supermarket and at the aforementioned homeless shelter.

As stated, every fifth Croatian resident is now at real risk of falling below the poverty line, and there is an extremely fine line between that and homelessness.

For more, make sure to keep up with our dedicated news section.

November the 12th, 2022 - Croatian agricultural products are as much as 22 percent more expensive as inflation continues to bite and the costs of raw materials just keep on increasing.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the average producer prices of Croatian agricultural products in the second quarter of this year increased by a considerable 22.1 percent when compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

The prices of vegetable products increased by 22.7 percent, and livestock, poultry and livestock products by 21.3 percent. The increase in prices of plant products was achieved in all groups of plant products, except for the group of fruits, in which prices fell by 8.1 percent.

The increase in prices of plant products in general was mostly influenced by the increase in prices in the groups of cereals (by 65.1 percent), vegetables (by 30.4 percent) and wine (by 9.2 percent).

In the group of products that have the largest share in animal husbandry compared to the same quarter of 2021, prices are much higher. For cattle, there has been a price increase of 28.6 percent, for pigs, there has been an increase of 19.5 percent, for milk - 18.4 percent, and eggs - 42.5 percent. Prices have also increased in other groups in animal husbandry.

The prices of goods and services for current use in the second quarter of this year when it comes to Croatian agricultural products compared to the same period last year increased by a very significant 50.1 percent, and this growth was mostly influenced by the increase in the prices of energy, fertilisers and animal feed.

As such, the prices of energy increased by 90.7 percent, fertilisers by 189.9 percent and animal feed by 27.5 percent. The prices of seeds and planting material also increased, by 17.9 percent, hitting the pockets not only of the farmers but of the end consumers quite hard.

For more, make sure to keep up with our dedicated lifestyle section.

November the 8th, 2022 - Croatian fuel prices have been altered following a recent government session and the new prices for all types of fuel are actual as of today. We'll provide a list below of what they are and what they would have been without intervention.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, following yesterday's session, the Croatian Government adopted the decree on establishing the highest retail prices of oil derivatives. According to the regulation, the highest prices are determined by a formula with a fourteen-day calculation period implied.

Margins in the aforementioned regulation are limited to 0.65/l kuna for petrol (gasoline) and diesel, 2.80/kg kuna for LPG for tanks, and 6.20/kg kuna for LPG for bottles.

The price of blue diesel is fixed at 8.49/l kuna.

This new set of Croatian fuel prices and this particular regime will be applied for the next fourteen days, the government also announced.

The new Croatian fuel prices (as of today) are as follows:

- 11.58 kuna/l for petrol (gasoline) fuel - (48 lipa more expensive)

- 13.19 kuna/l for diesel fuel (25 lipa cheaper)

- 10.16 kuna/kg for LPG for tanks (5 lipa more expensive)

- 8.49 kuna /l for blue diesel – the price has remained the same as before

- 14.41 kuna/kg for LPG for bottles - 5 lipa more expensive

Without the aforementioned capping and measures, Croatian fuel prices would be the following:

- 13.37 kuna /l for petrol (gasoline) fuel

- 15.13 kuna /l for diesel fuel

- 10.45 kuna /l for blue diesel

- 12.01 kuna /kg for LPG for tanks

- 16.75 kuna /kg for LPG for bottles of 7.5 kg and more.

For more on Croatian news, make sure to keep up with our dedicated section.

November the 8th, 2022 - Interliber 2022 is hoping to realise a certain level of profit, putting more emphasis on it than ever before as spiralling inflation continues to force the cost of just about everything up.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, publishers have high expectations from Interliber 2022 in Zagreb, famous for being the largest book fair in the country. They have calculated that they will finally get closer to their pre-pandemic figures and one of the best years of the fair which took place back in 2019, when almost 150,000 people visited Interliber.

Interliber 2022 is the first "normal" year for Interliber, after it failed to be held back in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and last year it was held with the obligation of covid certificates, with only 55 thousand people visiting it. This year is naturally of great importance to publishers as this large book fair brings them from 5 to 25 percent of their annual income.

"Last year, sales were at the level of cost coverage. We expect this year to be at least 50 percent better. On top of that, we expect the results to rise and approach those from back in 2019. This edition should be dynamic, both economically and promotionally,'' pointed out Slavko Kozina, president of the Association of Publishers and Booksellers of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK). The participation announcements this year are also significantly higher than they were last year, with as many as 66 publishers set to participate in the fair, more than last year. More precisely, 296 of them from an impressive 15 countries.

Among them is the Mate publishing house, which specialises in business literature and high school textbooks. They didn't participate last year, because due to epidemiological measures and the limitation of the number of people at the fair, they estimated that it simply wasn't worth it, according to Sanda Tomljenovic Polic, the editor and sales coordinator at Mate. They will be present at Interliber 2022, however, where they achieve a monthly turnover in just six days. However, Interliber 2022 isn't important to them solely because of traffic, but also because it allows them contact with their customers.

"We sell through the web or via distributors, so this is a great opportunity for us to socialise with people and hear their comments for ourselves," stated Tomljenovic Polic, announcing attractive discounts of 15 to 80 percent.

In addition, at Interliber 2022, Bernard Marr's book "Artificial Intelligence in Practice" will be presented, in which the author provides detailed research on 50 companies that have successfully integrated AI into their business practices.

From Fraktura, which annually publishes about a hundred new titles, they have prepared 15 of them for Interliber 2022 alone. "I believe that the fair will be crowded this year," Seid Serdarevic, editor-in-chief of Fraktura, is convinced.

"It's a great source of income for everyone, and this will be especially important this year due to the increase in the prices of raw materials", warned Serdarevic, pointing out that the price of printing is 40 to 60 percent higher this year compared to last year, while the price of paper has also shot up significantly.

"The jump in costs was caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and inflation, and all of this creates pressure on the final price of the product, i.e. the book,'' said Serdarevic, adding that there has been a certain increase in the price of books in general, but that publishers are trying to minimise it so that physical books will continue to be affordable and available to Croatian buyers.

Although researches show that Croats don't read all that much anymore, the fact remains that of all the creative industries, this publishing industry is the toughest. In the last five years, the Croatian publishing scene has gone through three major crises, the failure of Algoritm, then the 2017 Agrokor crisis, and recently the coronavirus crisis, and in the end they successfully overcame it all.

As far as sales are concerned, this year things were solid with a slight increase compared to last year. Slavko Kozina pointed out that the latest figures for the business year of 2021 showed an increase in income of five to seven percent compared to pandemic-dominated 2020. It is the industry that, according to him, employs about 3,200 people and annually generates a massive one billion kuna in revenue.

For more, make sure to keep up with our dedicated news section.

November the 7th, 2022 - Inflation is continuing to pile the pressure on everyone's bank accounts, wallets and back pockets. With spiralling prices and a lack of stability continuing to dominate, Croatian fuel prices are set to change yet again as of tomorrow, with quite an increase on the cards for one type.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, as RTL Danas/Today has unofficially learned, Croatian fuel prices are set to change once again as of Tuesday, with basic Eurosuper 95 being 48 lipa per litre more expensive, while diesel will be cheaper by 25 lipa per litre.

The Croatian Government will most likely step in and freeze the price of blue diesel so that it remains at 8.49 kuna per litre. The average tank for fiel should as such increase in price by 24 kuna at the pump, while diesel vehicle owners will pay 12.5 kuna less from Tuesday on than they currently are.

According to the Government decree on determining the highest retail prices of oil derivatives, over the last two weeks, the price of basic Eurosuper has been 11.10 kuna per litre, while the price of Eurodiesel has been 13.44 kuna.

For more on Croatian fuel prices and other news, make sure to keep up with our dedicated section.

November the 1st, 2022 - The Croatian company Valamar has enjoyed some excellent results and impressive revenue growth, but could all that end up being threatened by inflationary pressures? It seems rising costs are already making a dint.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to Valamar's business report for the first nine months of 2022, this huge Croatian tourism company achieved results that confirm the recovery of business operations after two years dominated by the public health crisis, and they also indicate the significant impact of the new crisis on business costs.

2.32 billion kuna in operating income was successfully achieved by Valamar, which was an increase of 14% when compared to the pre-pandemic 2019, primarily as a result of an increase in average prices of 19.5%. Operating profit (EBITDA) during the first 9 months of this year reached 943 million kuna, representing growth of 7.7%. The highest growth was achieved by premium hotels and campsites, which confirmed the justification of Valamar's previous investments in tourism with high added value. Northern destinations have also been recording higher demand and faster recovery than southern Croatia has, although hotels down south in Dubrovnik also reached the level of traffic they enjoyed back in 2019 during the main summer season.

Operating costs for the first nine months of 2022 grew by 19% compared to 2019 due to the significant increase in energy costs and the growth of other operating costs under the influence of spiralling and ongoing inflation. Electricity costs increased by a massive 89 million kuna, while other costs increased by a total of 126 million kuna when compared to back in 2019. The biggest impact on the increase in costs has been a staggering three-fold increase in the price of electricity to 230 euros per MWh, due to which, the work of many larger accommodation facilities during the off-season has been shortened.

"With revenue growth of 14% compared to 2019, Valamar Riviera has achieved full recovery from the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Through the increase in service prices, primarily the price of accommodation in the premium segment, we managed to amortise the enormous increase in energy costs and the increase we've seen with other operating costs.

Ahead of us is a year full of a lot of uncertainty and challenges owing to the energy crisis, inflation, the cost of financing and geopolitical disturbances, but there's also good news such as Croatia's impending entry into both the Eurozone and into Schengen. The country's tourism sector should turn to the preparation of the next tourist season as soon as possible in order to ensure competitive business conditions and sustainable growth of tourism in time,'' said Zeljko Kukurin, President of the Management Board of Valamar Riviera.

Despite the crisis, investments in the amount of 530 million kuna were realised this year within several facilities managed by Valamar. The investment in Valamar Amicor Green Resort in the amount of 220 million kuna has significantly raised the quality of the offer on the Central Dalmatian island of Hvar, and refers to the construction of the first summer resort that follows the highest standards of green construction and sustainability. On the mainland in Makarska, the Dalmacija hotel was completely renovated and became Valamar's second lifestyle hotel under the PLACES brand. The Corinthia Hotel in Baska was renovated according to the standards of the Sunny Plus brand, and back in July, the acquisition of the third hotel in Obertauern was finalised, which will open for the 2022/2023 winter season, welcoming guests as Valamar Collection Kesselspitze Hotel 5*.

Valamar is otherwise the largest employer in Croatian tourism by far, employing 7,700 employees this year alone. In order to improve working conditions and retain local employees, 15 million euros were invested this year in salary increases and numerous reward programmes. By entering the TOP 10 most desirable Croatian employers, Valamar has confirmed its long-standing position as the best employer in the country's tourism sector. Back in June this year, Valamar presented its brand new sustainability strategy and ESG goals which it intends to implement until the year 2025, within which, over the next three years to be precise, it plans to become a carbon-neutral company in the first and second scope and to invest 50 million euros in the further development of its destinations and sustainability projects.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.